


Sometimes Found Families are Accidental. Sometimes They are Intentionally Forced Together.

by LiveAndLetRain (CaraLee)



Series: Let's Make This House A Habit [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23288302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaraLee/pseuds/LiveAndLetRain
Summary: In Which Alternate Arrangements are Made for Sasuke.And Also There is Iruka Backstory
Series: Let's Make This House A Habit [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1674814
Comments: 10
Kudos: 32





	Sometimes Found Families are Accidental. Sometimes They are Intentionally Forced Together.

**Author's Note:**

> Yoshino-Sensei is a beautiful concept by EternalSurvivor that I have thoroughly adopted. 
> 
> I wrote this for Tatami Iwashi's birthday and it is part of a much larger AU that I fondly refer to as the "Accidental Orphan Family AU" aka "The AU in which Everyone Gets Adopted"

Iruka first meets Tatami Iwashi when he is eleven years old and gets in enough trouble to be dragged to the Hokage for the first time. Sandaime-Sama sighs and suggests that maybe they give Iruka an outlet for his excess energy. Yoshino-Sensei agrees that sounds like a wonderful idea and the next person she drags Iruka to is right back out the door of the Hokage’s office.

“Tatami-san!”

The chūnin at the receptionist’s desk looks up from the documents he is sorting. “Yoshino-San.” He is the first person they’ve seen in their trek to the tower that doesn’t cower in fear at the sight of Yoshino-Sensei. (And Iruka is pretty sure that includes the ANBU in the ceiling.) “How may I help you?”

Yoshino-sensei pushes Iruka forward. “This is Umino Iruka. He will be your assistant after school.”

Iwashi looks down at Iruka’s scowling face, and the shame behind it, and smiles cheerful and warm (and, perhaps, just a little bit evil). “I am delighted to meet you, Iruka-Kun. I look forward to working with you!”

And they do work together, throughout Iruka’s time in the Academy and most of his years as a genin he is Iwashi’s unofficial assistant and apprentice. And he keeps his ears and eyes open and mouth shut (well, about the _important_ things) and he learns. He learns so many things.

In the aftermath of the Kyūbi attack, the personnel structure of Hokage Tower was in shambles and not just because of damage to the building and deaths among the staff during the attack. Minato-Sama, Iwashi informs Iruka in a carefully neutral voice, had been in the process of restaffing the tower, in-between directing the war efforts and Konoha’s internal affairs. Iwashi had been his chosen replacement for the previous chūnin secretary and receptionist. When Sandaime-Sama had returned to office after Minato-Sama’s death, his secretary, who had retired when Iwashi took her place, had politely declined to return.

Iruka nods and listens and watches. Iwashi is far more than a secretary, he discovers. He is part of the Hokage’s guard. The most visible and easily accessible of them, unlike the ANBU skulking in the shadows, or even Genma or Raidō, who are sometimes on duty in standard uniform as well. Iwashi is the first line of defense and the commander of every desk-shinobi in the tower in case of an emergency. He can even give orders to ANBU if the situation is dire enough.

And he teaches Iruka all of it.

It takes an embarrassingly long time to realize that Iwashi is grooming him as his successor.

“There is no guarantee, of course.” Iwashi says calmly, the first time Iruka looks at the codes he is teaching him with new understanding. “Ultimately the decision is up to the current Hokage. But it is always good to have trained personnel on hand. Just in case.”

Even after he begins teaching, Iruka continues to take shifts at the Tower and learn more administrative secrets than he could have ever guessed existed. (That he also becomes the terror of the mission desk during this time is a point of pride for both him and Iwashi.)

“If you let the jōnin get away with _anything_ even _once_ ,” Iwashi had told him back when he was still an Academy Student. “You will never have their respect.” Iruka watches him give instructions to a dozen people who outrank him a day and figures he knows what he is talking about. And even if Iruka’s method is a bit more…shouty than his, it begins working almost as well.

Over the years, Iwashi has become a respected mentor, a role model, and even a friend. They meet at least once a week, whether at the tower or meeting for lunch out and about in the village.

And it is at one of these lunch meetings, about three months after the Uchiha Massacre, that Iruka expresses some concerns.

His current class is his first class to teach himself, without guidance from a senior instructor. The first-year students. Including Naruto and also Uchiha Sasuke. (He does his best to carry on in the face of the empty seat where Uchiha Hotaru used to sit diagonal to her cousin.)

“I’m worried about him,” Iruka confesses, carefully keeping his voice level. Nothing attracts attention in a shinobi village so much as hushed conversations. “He was always very quiet and focused but now…” He shakes his head. “He’s obsessed. And he is living in the compound, alone.”

He sips his tea without tasting it, “That can’t be good for him.”

“Why don’t you take him in?” Iwashi says, dry as bones left to bleach in the deserts of Wind. “You seem to collect strays.”

It’s the closest that anyone has come to acknowledging, out loud, what Iruka and Anko have done by taking in TenTen (which no one really cares about) and Naruto (which many very important people care very much about and do not approve of).

“I can’t,” Iruka admits. “His living situation is much more high-profile than Naruto’s. I checked. The official reason for leaving him in the compound is the safety provided by the wards there. And if I took him out of the compound there is no way the council wouldn’t notice and take him and Naruto away.” He knows his frustration shows on his face. “I wouldn’t even be allowed to be their teacher anymore. The only reason they’ve let us get this far is that we don’t make waves.”

Iwashi hums, thoughtfully. “Did you hear about the Akimichi’s proposal that they foster Hyūga Hinata?” He says, somewhat amused. “You began something, Iruka-Kun. Maybe there is someone else who could take the boy in.”

“Who, though?” Iruka says. “It has to be someone with enough rank and influence to justify it, and enough skill to have half a hope in hell at holding Itachi off if he comes back to-” He cuts off but _to finish the job_ hangs in the air between them.

Iwashi thinks a moment and then smiles. “Bring Sasuke-Kun here tomorrow after school.” He says slowly. “I believe I have just the people in mind.”

He watches through the window, as Genma haggles with a street vendor. _Oh yes. He has just the people in mind._

**Author's Note:**

> Raidou is in for such a surprise.


End file.
